Bifocal Film Festival seeks to amplify student voices from near and far through curated official selection screenings, filmmaker discussion panels, industry networking events, and professional keynote presentations on media and entertainment.

Drawing from our university's history of Ben Franklin's invention of the bifocal, we utilized the metaphor of seeing near and far as a framework of what we hope to program for Penn's inaugural festival. We are dedicated to showcasing unique lenses in which students experience and interpret the world we live in — highlighting student perspectives nationally and globally. We want emerging filmmakers to use their voice and tell us what we should be focusing on!

Sponsored by The Annenberg School, the Cinema and Media Studies Program, the Wolf Humanities Center, the Sachs Grant for Arts and Innovation, and the Philadelphia Film Office.